NYPD Steals $18,000 from Man Because He Was Carrying a Banned Pocket Knife

A 1958 law that outlaws knives that open when pointed toward the ground (gravity knife) had a south Bronx man forfeit 18,000$ the NYP had no problem tweeting out.

The ban on the gravity knife has snagged 60,000 people over the last 10 years. Many use these knives for work.

The good news is the Dems made an amendment to the law to omit folding knives. The Governor has yet to sign the June amendment.

Last 5 years NYP spent $350,000 in settlements for false arrests.

These knives are used for work and protection.

This story ends by stating that if the forfeiture law remain, there is a chance that policing for profit is a temptation and problem.

In the past five years, the New York Police Department has spent $347,000 on false arrest lawsuit settlements. According to the Village Voice, these costs stem from the city’s “gravity knife statute.”

Passed in 1958, the law banned New York residents from carrying knives fitted with blades that fall out of the handle as the user points them toward the ground while pushing the lever. This antiquated law is responsible for thousands of yearly arrests, despite the fact that current knife designs bear no resemblance to the blades of yesteryear.

But estimates suggest that over the past ten years, this particular ban has been the reason for the prosecution of “60,000 New Yorkers … many of them working people who use folding knives as part of their jobs.” A recent incident shows another unintended consequence of upholding the gravity knife statute — one that cost a South Bronx resident $18,000.

In a very public tweet, the NYPD announced Sunday that officers from Police Service Area 7 had “arrested a male for a gravity knife and vouchered $18,000 dollars cash for forfeiture.” The triumphant tweet, The Village Voice pointed out, even “[publicized the prisoner’s] name and address, down to the apartment number.”


By coupling an outdated law with civil asset forfeiture rules — which in New York state, happen to be draconian — officers managed to take advantage of yet another property owner in order to “prop up” the local police budget.

While few details about the arrest were made public, the Village Voice added, many on Twitter commented that the model of knife the arrestee was carrying “appear[ed] to be a style often carried by first responders, with a feature designed for safely cutting clothes and tangled seat belts after, say, a car accident.” The news outlet reached out to the NYPD for more information, but officers failed to respond with more details.

The gravity knife ban was tweaked in June when Democrats added an amendment to the state law clarifying “the definition of a gravity knife by excluding any folding knife with a ‘bias toward closure.’” The change has yet to be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

But even if it’s signed, this change to the state law does little to protect the New Yorkers’ constitutional right to own and carry any means of self-defense. Nevertheless, it could help to limit the number of individuals framed by the NYPD over folding knives and pocket knives, which are often “used for work or passed down in a family.”

Even if the tweak to the state’s knife ban is finally signed into law, this measure, alone, will not be enough because the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws remain intact. Until serious criminal justice reforms are passed in the Empire State, New Yorkers will continue to be bullied in the name of policing for profit.

theantimedia.org...

Asset forfeiture is one of the most abused and insidious law enforcement tools ever permitted in this country. It's literally highway robbery.

I really hope this gets fixed one day.

Now this is the sort of thing that should cause protests- although I'm not seeing information on the source of the money.
I mean, if he was on his way to buy something with 18 grand in his pocket, I'd think that would be in the story. Did they raid his home for it?

Any way you cut it, boo on the nypd for this.

a reply to: loam

They don't seem in too much of a hurry to even sign the amended law, the Governor has had it since June.

a reply to: seasonal

Imagine how stop and frisk opens up every citizen to asset forfeiture and the enforcement of every trivial taxable law. No surprise this is in New York.

a reply to: lordcomac

Police Service Area 7, a unit that patrols public housing in two Bronx precints

www.villagevoice.com...

If you make $18,000 legally you don`t qualify for public housing, of course maybe he didn`t live there and he just always carries $18,000 in cash (that he earned legally) when he visits his friends who live in public housing.

looks like a drug dealer to me.

a reply to: seasonal

How many of you have ever been to the South Bronx ??

There's nothing that really needs to be said about this.

Buck
(former resident of Flatbush) Brooklyn.

According to FBI crime statistics, there were 139 times more stabbing deaths than "assault rifles" in NY.

So why aren't NY dems working to reverse rifle bans?


ucr.fbi.gov...

a reply to: Tardacus

Why am i picturing him walking down a sidewalk kicking a can and softly singing "if i were a rich man"

And the icing on the cake...."While few details about the arrest were made public, the Village Voice added, many on Twitter commented that the model of knife the arrestee was carrying “appear[ed] to be a style often carried by first responders, with a feature designed for safely cutting clothes and tangled seat belts after, say, a car accident.”

That makes it okay to carry all of a sudden?

a reply to: SPHARAOH

I'd say it does, but that's me.
I carry a 3.9" fixed blade on my belt at all times. 4" would be enough to get me arrested in the city, here- but I dying go down town if I dying have to.

I can't see anything wrong with carrying a blade- it's a basic tool which I find myself reaching for dozens of times daily.

Of course, if you've got 18k in your pocket and you're hanging around welfare slums, you're probably up to no good.

a reply to: lordcomac

Right you're carrying a legal knife. And apparently he wasn't. Doesn't make a difference on the brand/type. If i didn't have a gun permit would it be okay to carry a gun and have Twitter users (seemingly) try to justify it by saying well it's the type often carried by cops?

I don't always carry 18K in cash, but when I do I make sure it is in a crime riddled part of town.

a reply to: roadgravel

THIS lol.

a reply to: seasonal

You think asset forfeiture is bad now?

Just wait until Trump's nationwide "stop and frisk" goes into effect.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: seasonal

Imagine how stop and frisk opens up every citizen to asset forfeiture and the enforcement of every trivial taxable law. No surprise this is in New York.

Beat me to it.

originally posted by: roadgravel
I don't always carry 18K in cash, but when I do I make sure it is in a crime riddled part of town.

Nice
Personally i like to hide a couple of stacks of hundreds in my undies to make it look bigger and if i am being robbed or frisked i like the foreplay before realizing i just got f*****d.

originally posted by: loam
Asset forfeiture is one of the most abused and insidious law enforcement tools ever permitted in this country. It's literally highway robbery.

I really hope this gets fixed one day.

I think a more appropriate word is looting ,,, the public. "Excuses to Loot"

it wont get fixed in fact i suspect it will get worse. With the secret space programs, black budget programs etc the police ... or are they military anyway, get tempted to just decide to get rich by looting the public.

in one case I read a couple lost their house because a cop cruising past stopped, walked on to the property ( so much for the rights of property owners) and spoke to the two kids where one was buying a bit of happy weed other the other. According to the cop, because the 'offence' took place on the front steps of the home therefore it was in the home so they took the house off the parents.

originally posted by: lordcomac
Now this is the sort of thing that should cause protests- although I'm not seeing information on the source of the money.
I mean, if he was on his way to buy something with 18 grand in his pocket, I'd think that would be in the story. Did they raid his home for it?

Any way you cut it, boo on the nypd for this.

IMO opinion the reason he has the money on him is immaterial because the cops have no right to make an assumption as to where the money come from. IMO they should not be able to take anyones property until they have reasonable suspicion that its the proceeds of a crime or that he was about to commit a crime.

If they cannot show cause that they had cause for reasonable suspicion then the cop should guilty of unlawful posession.